Blue Haired Beauty
by becky157689
Summary: The U-17 training camp had started up again this year and many new people have been invited. What happens when a mysterious young girl turns up and seems to know Ryoma. (Pairings undecided)
1. Prologue

The U-17 training camp is a selection camp for the top potentials in the japanese tennis world. This training camp is held once a year and many high school tennis teams from the different cities of Japan are invited to heighten their tennis skills so that later on the top players would gather to make the top team.

The U-17 training camp is a boarding camp for participants who stay in shared dorms based on the players abilities and/or personality; the aim is for them to grow from having to live together. In the camp, everyone is separated by their strengths from court 1-16. The lower the court number, the stronger you are - the higher the court number, the weaker you are.

Everyday, before practice, there are shuffle matches between players from different courts. To rise a court, you need to win against a 'stronger' opponent. But if you lose against someone 'weaker', you will be dropped a court.

This year, however, there are new tennis teams which have been invited to this prestigious training camp. Surprisingly, these teams are middle schoolers. Never in history have middle schoolers been invited, so when the high schoolers found out this new piece of information.. well, you can simply guess how they were feeling. If middle schoolers were joining the camp, then they must be strong - the high schoolers didn't want to believe this as they didn't like to think that younger kids were stronger than them. So, as soon as said middle schoolers arrived, they decided to see if they were up to the challenge.

Kurobe Yukio - the stand in director of the U-17 as well as the strategist coach of the camp - observed in amusement, as Seigaku's tennis team outsmarted two members of the high schoolers section, from the monitor room. He couldn't help but let loose a small smirk as he thought how interesting the new recruits would be. Surely enough, his time with these tennis teams would be rather entertaining; not only for him, but for the other coaches of the camp as well.

Itaru Saito - the U-17 camps mental coach - was also observing from his place behind Kurobe, his hands lazily placed inside his long white lab coats pockets as a wide smile made its way upon his face. The insanely tall man was quite excited to say the least. Of course, he would be able to have some fun now that there were more interesting kids at the camp.

Ryuuji Tsuge - the circuite coach - however, couldn't really care less as he had better things to do in his time, such as training, rather than watching the high schoolers make fools of themselves.

"Saa.. this year is going to be very interesting. Ne, Kurobe-san" Saito more like stated than questioned, an obvious hint of excitement in his voice. He was extremely excited to be honest. With the new members as well as the high schoolers, there was going to be another arrival.. a very special arrival and Saito couldn't wait to meet her.

Earlier that week, Kurobe had come back from America with a wide smile plastered over his face; the whole day he just wouldn't stop grinning. This caught Tsuge and Saito's, especially Saito's, attention as he barely ever grins that much - Except when something extra interesting has happened.

Not being able to lock in his curiosity any further, Saito asked. He was expecting Kurobe's answer to be short and simple as it usually was. However, this time it wasn't. Kurobe kept on babbling about a young girl he had met in America, New York. He explained every detail of their time together, everything about her, how she would act. It was obvious that this girl - Supposedly named Riririn - was someone very interesting and Saito couldn't keep his excitement, from that moment on, from boiling over. So, when Kurobe informed the two other coaches that said girl was going to be joining them at the U-17 training camp, Saito insisted that he would get to meet her as soon as she arrived - to which Kurobe agreed to with a chuckle.

Things were going to get very amusing from now on.. the three coaches (well, two of the coaches since one only cared about his exercise) were sure of this.


	2. Chapter 1 - Her Mysterious Arrival

"Uwah! So this is the place Yukio was talking about? It looks so.. big!"

A young girl, no older than the age of 14, stood at the front gates of the U-17 training camp. She had been told many stories by Yukio about how big the place was, but she thought he was merely being overdramatic and wanted to make her more excited than she already was; not that she needed to be any more excited to be honest.

As she stared straight ahead where a large pathway lead up to the tennis courts (which was surrounded by nature) a gust of wind flew passed her - making her glowing, below the waist length, light blue hair flow around behind her. The blue dazzled under the sunlight and it made her seem all the more angelic than she already is. The girl squinted her heterochromatic eyes shut to make sure nothing would get into them, before opening them again and placing some black sunglasses on. She basked in the hot sun, letting her skin get all the warmth it needs; in America it was hot as well, but the air was always humid and would make anyone sweat if they stayed out to long. However, in japan this wasn't the case - the air was dry and felt much more refreshing.

Her clothes consisted of: open toed cream coloured sandals, a pair of denim shorts showing off her long, slender legs and a 'off the shoulder' dark grey top with long sleeves which she had pushed up to her elbows due to the heat. All in all, at first glance, the girl was a natural beauty; with her blemish free, porcelain skin and thin, curvy, figure which was toned all too well (The body of a young girl who did the correct amount of exercise and had a healthy diet all together) But, the only question was - what was such a girl doing at U-17 training camp... for boys?

To her left, just on top of the stone made, gate-like structure, was a camera. Staring into the lens for just a moment, the young girl took out a sticky note from her bag, as well as a pen, and began writing something unknown to the people watching her. Not even half a minute later did the girl stop writing, place her belongings on the ground to the side and walk up to the stone structure.

The two men who were observing from the monitor room watched carefully. However, in the blink of an eye, before they could even understand what had happened, the girl was gone and the screen was clouded by a... note?

**'Yukio! Your most favourite person in the world has arrived!'**

One of the men's smile widened as he would finally get to see the young girl Kurobe would speak so affectionately about. While the other... well, he simply went back to doing one-handed push ups, not caring at all. Although, there was a sliver of interest that he pushed towards the back of his mind.

* * *

As the young girl skipped along the pathway towards the tennis courts of the U-17 training camp, a loud sound came from up above; the trees surrounding the pathway swished to and fro due to the amount of wind the noise was creating. With a smile, the girl glanced up with her hand in a 'saluting' position to block out the sun that got through the dark shade of her glasses and watched as a helicopter flew overhead. Excitement rushing through her being - she picked up speed fast and began running towards her destination with new-found strength and adrenaline.

However, just as she did so, a whole load of tennis balls began falling from the sky. But, since the girl was concentrating more on the tennis courts right before her eyes and the excitement boiling throughout her body, she did not notice the stay tennis ball which was falling straight for her... head?

With a thump, the girl hit the ground face first.

All was silent except for the noises the many boys down below were making as they pushed and shoved each other for a ball. The competition for a place in the training camp becoming quite a show.

A short moment passed by as the young girl kept still, a fingers twitching here and there, before she finally sat up, that tennis ball that had caused her pain now in hand.

Rubbing the back of her head, which had now produced a small bump due to the height the yellow/greenish furry ball had fallen from, she let out an almost silent wince and stood back up again. The surroundings had quieted down somewhat by now and the girl was curious about what was going on.

Looking over the bleachers, the blue haired beauty let loose a wild grin and began giggling uncontrollably.

She couldn't believe her eyes.

There, standing down on one of the many tennis courts before all the other U-17 training camp members, was a young boy who she knew all to well. Even if it had been over 6 years since they'd seen each other, the boy had been all over t.v. in America. The girl's excitement hit it's peak; she couldn't wait to actually talk to him face to face again.

Suddenly, her expression dropped and she frowned at the thought of him not remembering her. After a moment, she shrugged the thought off '_Doesn't matter. It's good enough to meet him again'_.

With that thought, she walked backwards to the other side of the path to get a running start before grinning at the confusion she was most likely going to cause. Not even a second later did she rush forward. As soon as her right foot touched the edge of the path - just above the bleachers - she used her great leg strength and pushed up high into the air. Doing a single forward flip, her hair flowing elegantly around her, the girl landed almost soundless on the ground right in the space between her childhood friend and the large group of middle and high schoolers.

Silence.. that was all there was.

Silence filled the courts as the mysterious girl placed all of her bags on the ground: Violin, ukulele case, Tennis bag and her hand bag with all her necessities inside (her clothes ect.. were all delivered beforehand). After doing so, she patted down her shorts and top before turning back around and smiling at her childhood friend.

"Ryoma! It's been so long!" Said boy did not get the chance to reply blink as he was tackled into a big hug with so much force that the two dropped to th ground.

The hugging kept on going while everyone else was silent.. well, silent until "EHH!" Momoshiro and Eiji, including many others who know Ryoma firsthand exclaimed in shock and utter terror. The stoic middle schoolers who don't want to embarrass themselves in such a way, however, simply kept their shock to themselves. These included: Fuji, Yukimura, Sanada, Tezuka and some others.

Realising what was happening, Echizen pushed the blue haired girl away from him and straightened himself out before giving her an annoyed look. "Anta dare?" He asked rather rudely, a single fine eyebrow raised in question. The girl pouted, her cheeks puffed out slightly, and she crossed her arms over her chest cutely. She was correct - he didn't remember her. But, it was such a long time ago and she hadn't appeared on the television except for that one time so, it was... acceptable.

The regular's who knew Echizen, suddenly, felt sorry for the mysterious girl. They knew that being able to remember people wasn't one of Echizens best qualities. Nevertheless, they all listened in closer, wanting to know why such a beauty would suddenly jump down onto the courts and hug their freshman out of nowhere.

"Mou! It's so mean of you. Not remembering who I am. My names-" "Riririn!" The young girl - who is now known by the name of Riririn - turned around to see who had interrupted her so that she could ask them politely to not do so, but stopped in the middle of that though as she just recognised the voice of who had called out to her.

The mans silky voice came from the loud speakers and Riririn knew that he was watching her inside the monitor room. A soft smile made its way onto her face. She was happy and excited, but couldn't find herself to grin for some odd reason. Perhaps it was because Ryoma couldn't seem to remember her? '_Oh well'_

It had only been a week since Kurobe left her in America, but she had missed this man so much. He was like a father and a brother to her in one. He would protect her from boys who messed with her back in America, even though she didn't need it, make sure she had a roof under her head and much more.

Turning her attention back to Ryoma, Riririn smiled and stated "I'll come and explain everything to you later on. But now, Yukio wants to see me. Bye Ryoma" This only confused Echizen even further. Why was a girl he'd never met before calling him by his first name? He and all the others couldn't help but wonder as they watched the blue haired, heterochromatic eyed beauty pick up her baggage and walk away.

However, suddenly she stopped and turned around, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Here" With a swift movement and a flick of her wrist, a tennis ball soared high up through the air, catching almost everyone's attention. The high schoolers who hadn't yet caught a ball grinned wildly and ran after it, but the middle schoolers and the remaining high schoolers who had caught a ball, stayed behind to watch what the mysterious young girl would do next.

To their disappointment, nothing else happened and the girl, with a last wave of her hand, ran off towards the building in which the monitor room lay.

The girl lingered in their thoughts... especially her eyes. One was such an unusual colour. Her left was the same shade as her hair, a shining light blue - also slightly unusual, but her right was a red crossed with purple which wouldn't stop gleaning; No matter what angle she would look from it kept its happy spark. Even the more emotionless members of the regular teams wanted to know who she was and just what she was doing in a camp.

A camp full of teenage hormonal boy at that.

The high schoolers who couldn't get a ball were the first to snap out of it. They were pissed off that all of them would have to leave the training camp just because they couldn't catch a mere tennis ball. They were invited there because of their ability to play tennis and they were sure they sure as hell would show just how much better they are at tennis than some kids 2 years or more, younger than them. However, a voice interrupted everyone's thoughts. It was that same voice that called away the mysterious girl. Kurobe - the name of the man who was speaking to them - began explaining about how the training camp works, as well as the rules that they were required to follow.

* * *

Riririn was walking through the building, trying to find her way towards the monitor room. But, since she was new and had never been inside said building before, she had gotten lost. Of course, Riririn was the type of girl who would get lost in her own home. She had a lot of amazing talents, but unfortunately 'sense of direction' was not one of them. Her bad sense of direction was actually the reason she arrived at the U-17 training camp 2 days later than she shoulder have.

This bad sense was also one of the reasons why Kurobe was worried about leaving her in America alone. He had flat out told her to ask for directions once inside the airport and to make sure that she got on the right plane. If she hadn't.. then who knows where she would have been by now. Africa perhaps? Now that would have been bad.

Just as Riririn turned around to make her way back to the courts to ask for directions, she knocked into a hard wall and fell to the ground with a "thump!" She wondered, as she stared down at the interesting tiles '_what the hell is a wall doing standing in my path?'_ Something then clicked in Riririn's mind - 'There wasn't a wall there before.. I just came from that way'

Taking a chance at glancing up, her eyes widened considerably. A man stood before her in a long white lab coat which hung just the right amount off of his tall figure. His hair was a raven black and was tied into a low ponytail that was tucked down the left side of his neck. Gazing at Riririn with amusement clear in his eyes, the mysterious tall man crouched down before the shocked girl and smiled a slightly lazy, yet excited smile in one.

Even though he had crouched down, his was still at a height where Riririn had to tilt her head back so that she could look at him - of course, she was also sprawled out over the floor.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Riririn-chan. My names Saito. Kurobe-san has told me so much about you"


	3. Chapter 2 - Yukio!

"Yukio!"

Inside the monitor room, Kurobe Yukio, the aforementioned man, turned around in his black, leather, swizzle chair, only to be jumped on by a young girl with luscious light blue hair that shined in the light which spread throughout the room. Said girl just so happened to be Riririn; the one whom he had previously called through the loud speakers.

It had taken only a few minutes to get to where they needed to be and this time Riririn didn't get lost as Saito had gone to fetch her. At first, Riririn thought he was going to take her somewhere so that he could experiment on her. But, just before she tried to run away and get even more lost, he explained that he was a friend of Kurobe (Yukio) and that he was told to find her and make sure she found the monitor room. Saito was actually a very nice man, despite his scary looks (height and lab coat!) and offered to carry her all the way back to the other side of the building which was where the monitor room lay.

Riririn had blushed and hid her face in embarrassment when Saito told her that she had walked towards the wrong building. But he stated, with confidence, that once she got to know the layout, she would also be able to walk around without having anyone to accompany her. If Kurobe had been there at that moment, Riririn was sure that he would burst out in fits of laughter as he knew that she had apsolutely no sense of direction.

Riririn had found her piggyback ride upstairs to be more fun than she had first expected it to be. Every time they would pass through a door, Saito would constantly hit his head on the frame - ending up making Riririn fall backwards. She had actually began to think that the man may have done it on purpose, as one time she noticed amusement in his eyes as well as the wide, yet somewhat lazy, grin.

Seeing Yukio for the first time in the week that they'd been apart made Riririn very, very happy. She couldn't help herself but grin as she wrapped her thin, pale (creamy pink) coloured arms around his neck. Saito, who had just entered the room as he was left behind by an extremely excited Riririn, looked at the two as they hugged; as if they were in their own world, the two stayed that way for many moments longer. Saito smiled at the calming look on their standing directors face as he tightened his hold around the young girl and couldn't help but think of them as Father and Daughter after having not seen each other for years, when in fact the two had only been separated for a single week and were not even remotely related.

A cough brought the two out of their hugging session and both broke apart. Tsuge, who had watched in slight irritation mixed in with mild surprise, had enough of their moment of reuniting and wanted nothing more than to turn around and train, but with the atmosphere they were creating - he couldn't exactly do just that. So, he cleared his throat and gave Kurobe a 'look' before getting back to his push ups.

Kurobe smiled down at his young friend whom he hadn't seen for a week since he left her at the airport in America. To be honest, he was surprised that she'd even found her way out of there.. or perhaps she hadn't and she'd slept on those uncomfortable seats for a week. Just the thought of that happening made him chuckle, although in an inaudible way.

"Yukio.. I've missed you. Sorry I'm late though.. I got lost" Riririn cast her face downwards, but that didn't stop Kurobe from noticing the blush which had made its way across the girls cheeks. Chuckling, he placed a hand on top of her head, her hair was as silky as always just like he thought it was, and ruffled it. "I knew you would. Perhaps it would have been a good idea if you would have called me as soon as you got off the plane. Then, I could have arranged it so that someone came to get you" Riririn's blush increased and she turned the other way.

Of course, she had thought of that exact idea but, luck just so happens to hate her and she lost her phone as soon as she left the plane. There was the idea of using a payphone as well, however she didn't remember Yukio's number by head.

Kurobe, noticing the look on the girl's face, placed a hand to the side of his head and sighed deeply. "You lost it" This startled Riririn and she began to fiddle with the hem of her grey off the shoulder top. "Hehehe.. Sorry?" With a shake of his head, Kurobe turned to Saito who was standing on the balcony, watching the middle schoolers match's against the high schoolers. "Saito-san, I'm sure that you've already met her. But, this is the young girl I was telling you about. Mononoke Riririn. Riririn, this is Itaru Saito" The two nodded to each other, both having smiles on their faces. Although, Saito's smile was lazier than the young girls.

Turing in his chair to face Tsuge - the man who was doing push ups right in the middle of the monitor room - Kurobe cleared his throat, trying to gain his attention. Stopping mid-way push up, Tsuge gazed up at the young light blue haired girl with heterochromatic eyes and looked her over before grunting.

She was exactly how Kurobe had explained her to be - a blue haired beauty with the look of pure innocence written all over her face.

He watched as she walked over to him, a hop in her step, and crouched down right before him, a smile plastered over her cute face. "Nice to meet you. What's you name?" Tsuge grunted and continued doing push ups, but did answer her nevertheless "Ryuuji Tsuge"

Hearing a shout from down below, Riririn turned towards the balcony and skipped over to see what was going on down below. The young girl propped her elbows up on the railing and rested her head on her hands as she watched three high schoolers make their way onto the tennis courts. They were quite cute in her books, except for the one with red hair who looked like an oni. But, he could just look like that on the outside and is actually really sweet and kind on the inside.. Riririn couldn't want to meet him personally and see for herself.

Shrugging out of those thoughts for now, Riririn turned back around to face the three coaches as all the interesting stuff had now past. "So... could anyone show me where my room is? I would like to set everything up and unpack, maybe sleep for a while as well. I've barely slept in the passed 2 days" She surely was quite tired to be honest and a yawn escaped her lips just to prove it. Riririn had been walking a long way from the airport due to her forgetting a car called 'taxi' and had stayed in an uncomfortable hotel when she couldn't find the U-17 training camp. All in all, she wanted a nice hot bath and to change into more comfortable clothes before going to get herself some dinner.. as well as meeting her new camp-mates.

Agreeing with her suggestion, Kurobe turned to Saito and nodded - a gesture meaning that he was the one that would be showing her where she'd be staying while at the U-17 training camp. "Just follow me Riririn-chan" After a moments of hesitation, Riririn nodded, however reluctant it was, and ran after the tall man. But, not before giving a hug and wave goodbye to the other two coaches in the room.

As soon as she was gone from their sights, Tsuge stopped doing his exercises and stood up. He turned to Kurobe with an irritant look clear on his face. Noticing this, Kurobe asked what was wrong. "Why did you bring her here? She's obviously too frail to be an athlete - tennis player at that - so why?" Kurobe rose an eyebrow in slight surprise. Of course, that was what he'd thought as first. But, as soon as he saw her take down those men that were at least double her size, his impression on her changed.

"Even though she may look fragile and week, she is anything but that. Her tennis skills far exceed many of those who attend from the middle courts. At least... that what I think from what I've seen her do so far. I haven't invited her, though, to take part in the matches. She's just going to be here so that I can keep an eye on and protect her like I promised" Kurobe finished his explanation there and refused to tell Tsuge anything more, which said man didn't really mind as he couldn't be bothered to hear about her life story. Although, he was slightly interested in her.. not that he'd ever admit it in front of anyone.

* * *

Saito smiled down at the young girl who was skipping alongside him; she truly was an interesting one.. They were making their way towards the elevator as there were stairs, however they didn't go up to the top floor - only the elevator could take them to their destination.

Riririn thought it would be a good idea, seeing as she would get more exercise, however Saito thought differently and spoke outright his opinions in the matter. "Ne Riririn-chan-" "Rin" Saito turned to face the blue haired beauty in question, a single thin eyebrow raised, as he pressed the button for the top floor in the elevator. "Call me Rin.. or Riri. I don't mind" There was a blush, although barely noticable, clear on her cheeks as she stated this and Saito couldn't help himself as he let out a chuckle, although he tried to hide it with the back of his hand _'Kurobe-san was right when he told me she'd blush at almost anything'._

"Your quite shy, Ne Rin-chan" True to his comment, him calling her 'Rin' only made her blush more and turn the other way in embarrassment. Riririn hadn't really ever gotten along with many adults before (apart from Nanjirou and Kurobe) so with Saito being so nice to her, the young blue haired beauty couldn't help but feel shy. If anything now, though, she should feel grateful.

As a moment of silence passed through the elevator before Riririn remembered what Saito was about to say before she so rudely interrupted him. Craning her neck so that she had a good look of the insanely tall man, Riririn cleared her throat to get his attention. Said man, hearing her do so, tilted his head slightly to the right and smiled down at her, rather lazily. "What were you going to say before, Saito-san?" The mentioned man 'hm'd' and gave a furrow of his eyebrows, as if he had forgotten what he was going to ask - which he did! "Gomen Rin-chan. I forgot" Riririn giggled and tried to hide it by turning the other way as well as placing her hand over her mouth, however that didn't really work as she merely laughed harder. "Ah! Iie.. it's ok" She noticed the look Saito was giving her and immediately straightened up.

"Ding!"

The sudden sound of the elevator stopping with a high-pitched sound sent the awkward moment surrounding the two away. Excitement bubbled inside the pit of Riririn's stomach as she could only picture what her new room would be like. The two walked out and almost immediately did Riririn's eyes almost pop out from their sockets. She knew that her room would be on the top floor but.. she never thought that it would be the whole of the top floor. Spinning on her heels, she turned to face Saito - flabbergasted.

"He didn't!"

Saito gave a single nod. At first, he was also very surprised at what Kurobe had done. However, after meeting the girl, he could see why he would. If he was in the director's place, he was sure that he would also do all in his power to make the blue haired beauty happy. Normally, the top floor of the building was empty and was usually used as extra storage space, but as soon as Kurobe got back, he checked the downstairs rooms and noticed that all were used up.

He also didn't want a young girl such as Riririn (especially Riririn due to her naïvety and innocence) to have to be dorming right next to young (hormonal) teenage boys.. who knows what might end up happening if he let that happen. So, he decided to get the top floor done to her liking.

As soon as you step out from the elevator, the first thing you notice is the large window opposite from you which, when opened, leads out towards a balcany with seats, a table, plants and a cover over head which shades you from bad weather, or if you just don't want to be in the sun and rather in the shade. When standing on the balcany, you get a full view of the tennis courts as well as the mountains behind them - which is just what Riririn would have wanted as she loved nature. The curtains framing the large window are a navy blue colour (one of Riririn's favourite colours) with black intiricate flower designs spread all over in pretty patterns.

On the right hand side of the floor, up against the wall, is a queen sized bed with light blue sheets and fluffed up pillow cases. Beside said bed, to the left, was a bedside table with an alarm clock and a lamp sitting a top it, while to the right was a desk with a laptop sitting atop of it and some other objects. Beside the desk was a door leading into the bathroom. The bathroom had a huge jacuzzi bathtub, a shower, toilet, sink, cabinets and a body-length mirror. The floor was tiled with black and white tiles, as was the walls.

To the bottom right hand side of the room was a walk in closet with a lot of extra space which would probably never be used as Riririn didn't have much clothes, but she liked the look of it nonetheless. Also, she could always put her books there, since there was so much room.

When you turn left from the elevator, you come up to a large flat screen T.V that is sitting atop a table equiped with an X-box, a lot of games, DVD's and a speaker set. In front of the T.V was a Highgate faux leather corner sofa with many black and white fluffed up pillows to give you extra comfort, but just before said sofa was a glass table. There was also a recliner chair beside the corner sofa, which was a brownish colour and was leather.

The floor of the room was made out of carpet which was also navy blue, but was also fluffy and would brush softly against the soles of your feet.

All in all, the room was magnificent. The best thing about the room, however, was that right in the center, was a black, shiny, grand piano. How anyone would have been able to even bring it up to the top floor? Riririn really didn't care as at any given moment, when she wanted to play a song, she just had to walk a few meters to do so.

Plopping down face first onto the bed, Riririn sighed in delight. Never had she, in her life, been in such an extravagant room. Even when she lived at home with her rich foster parents had she never had such a beautiful room. Sure it would be pretty, but it was never her favourite colour as her 'parents' didn't even know what her favourite colour was, or did it have any musical instruments inside as she was never allowed to play in the house since she would 'make to much noise'. Kurobe had gone through so much lengths to make her room perfect and she was sure to remember that she had to thank him for it later on.

The only, tiny, problem about her room (floor) was that if someone were to merely press the button for the top floor, then anyone could come and visit her as there is nothing blocking the elevators view from her bedroom. In fact - it gives you the view of the room without even making you so much as turn your head. She made a note in her mind to, also, remember to tell Kurobe to warn every single boy in the training camp to stay away from her floor.

Which unbeknownst to her, had already happened... with the high schoolers that is.

Hearing a clearing of the throat from behind her, the blue haired beauty jumped up and straightened herself out as she turned to face Saito. Said man was standing beside the elevator, staring at her with his, now infamous, lazy smile. "I have to go back downstairs now Rin-chan. You can stay here but make sure to have dinner before you go to bed. The dining room is open for breakfast from 5am-7am, for lunch from 11:30am-1:30pm and for dinner from 5:30pm-10pm" Riririn nodded, having taken in the information she had just been informed about like a vacuüm and smiled, giving the insanely tall man a "Thank you" and "Goodbye" just as he left the floor.

Sighing to herself in bliss, the blue haired beauty went back to laying faced down on her bed, head in fluffy pillow, before accidentally fallen asleep with the next few seconds. The young girl was so tired from being lost so much and having to walk around the city almost just to find the place - she had barely gotton any rest. It would definitely be a while before she awoke from her dreamless sleep.


	4. Chapter 3 - Catching Irie's attention

Currently, inside the U-17 training camp, many players were being placed against each other in a tennis match. Most being best friends on the same team. Throughout each of the matches, each player would try their best to have fun. Even if one of them would be eliminated, they knew that they had to give it their all and to have fun while doing so.

meanwhile, inside the dormitory building on the top floor, previously slept a young blue haired beauty and was now awoken by the many grunts and smashes of someone/people playing tennis.

Yawning loudly, Riririn sat up from the bed and stretched her arms far above her head. She looked around her new room, before glancing towards the open balcony. "I wonder what's happening down below" She mumbled to herself sleepily as she got up and made her way to see. The sun was still high up in the sky, so it was probably around noon or a bit later, meaning that Riririn had only had around an hours or two nap.

Once outside on the balcony, Riririn let out a breath in delight as a light gust of wind made its way past her - resulting in her hair flying everywhere. Normally, having such long hair made it difficult for a female tennis player, but Riririn didn't mind at all. She loved having long hair. Besides, Yukio had made it perfectly clear in their time together in America that he would be very sad if she were to end up having it cut.

Whilst leaning against the safety railing, Riririn watched as two young middle schoolers, wearing blue and white tennis uniform, were playing against each other in a match. The one with the upper hand was the tall brown-haired, brown-eyed boy wearing glasses. His opponent, a boy wearing a green bandana was running around the court like crazy and Riririn knew that he was tiring himself out. Looking somewhere else, Riririn began searching for a Echizen Ryoma, who was nowhere to be found. Furrowing her eyebrows, she pouted before deciding to go out and find him herself; She was sure Kurobe wouldn't mind..

Making her way to one of her suitcases, which consisted of all of her clothes etc.. Riririn took out a clean pair of jean shorts with braces and a blue/white striped tank top, which she instantly put on after taking her worn clothes off and decided to tuck her top in and pull the braces up, since she barely ever did so. For shoes, she decided not to wear any and instead to wrap her feet in bandages so they wouldn't get dirty/hurt. In America, she would always do this even though her parents would go crazy if they saw her doing so. Riririn never liked shoes that much, they were constricting and she couldn't feel the movement through the ground as well as without.

Pulling her long, past the waste length light blue hair, up into a high pony-tail and leaving her bangs to frame her heart-shaped face, Riririn grabbed a light grey cardigan (just in case it's cold or too windy) and skipped her way into the elevator.

A short while passed after she pushed the ground floor button, before the elevator door opened and Riririn was let out to find her way towards the tennis courts. This, however, wasn't as easy as she had first thought it would be; as soon as she found her way out of the building, she had gotten lost in a maze like place.

Finally, however, after what felt like ages, Riririn could feel the movement of tennis balls hitting against the ground through the soles of her feet. Turing on her heels she ran through a narrow path and soon enough came up to a single tennis court. Two high schoolers were standing to the side of said court watching as a middle schooler - Echizen Ryoma - fell to the ground, panting and tired out. Tokugawa Kazuya, his just previous opponent walked off the court with another high schooler, Oni Jujiro, following suit.

Riririn stood to a halt as she watched the two strong tennis players walk forward in her direction. She couldn't help but notice that the two looked vaguely familiar. A moment of silence ran through her before she remembered that they were the two that interrupted the tennis matches earlier on this morning. As soon as they both passed the other two watchers of their matches, Riririn stepped forward and blocked their path. Noticing her, Kazuya gave a cold stare, while Oni merely glared harshly. Both wondering what a girl, so young at that, was doing at an all boy tennis training camp. Not only were none invited, all the trams consisted of men only.

Riririn was going to say something, but then shut her mouth and turned towards the red-haired high schooler; a question having had been locked inside her memory bank as soon as she first saw him and needed to be answered. "Ne" Catching Oni's full attention, he raised a fine red eyebrow and grunted. "Are you really a high school student?" If it was possible, Oni would have sweat dropped at the question. But instead, he merely scowled and turned his head to the side, refusing to answer as it was perfectly obvious. Although, he had to admit that he was a bit taller, older looking than someone else of his age group. That was one of the reasons people stayed away from him... other than the fact that he always wore a scowl to mask his other emotions.

Seeing that he wasn't going to answer her, Riririn sighed and gave a small pout before looking up at the other, darker haired boy, who had just defeated her childhood friend - (even though he doesn't remember her at all) Echizen Ryoma. "You beat Ryoma right? What's your name?" The boy, whom she had just questioned, stayed silent and impassive before finally, after what seemed like minutes, answered. "Tokugawa Kazuya" Riririn nodded and pointed to herself "Mononoke Riririn. It's nice to meet you and congrats for defeating Ryoma - someone had to finally do it. At least now I know your strong enough to actually be in court 1, huh?" It was more like stated than questioned and even though what she just said hit Kazuya right where it hurts, Riririn still smiled innocently.

Next she turned to the red-haired boy "And whats your name?" Oni looked the young girl over, and once again grunted. She was around 160 in height, fragile limbs, long light blue hair which seemed to sparkle in the sunlight and porcelain skin. What got him most though about her appearance, was her heterochromatic eyes. One, a light blue, the same as her hair, but the other.. a weird colour. Her right eye was a mix of red and purple that also seemed to sparkle in the light. "Oni Jujiro" A soft smile graced the blue haired beauties lips and she inwardly celebrated _'I knew it! He really is mean looking on the outside but kind on the inside!' _

Snapping out of her thoughts, Riririn giggled to herself quietly before stepping to the side so that the two could pass. "I'll be looking forward to meeting you again, Tokugawa-san, Oni-san" With that said, Riririn skipped down towards the tennis court where the previous laying Echizen Ryoma and his friend was. Kazuya and Oni watched as she did so.

Neither of the boys spoke, until a moment later when Oni asked "What is a girl doing here?" Kazuya, also not knowing the answer, shook his head once before walking back to the main building, Oni following suit.

Jumping down the last step, Riririn looked up and was about to shout out to her childhood friend, when she saw the insanely tall man - Saito - enter and stop in front of Ryoma. Smiling widely, Riririn skipped her way towards him and called "Saito-san!" Said man looked up at the girl who called to him and smiled his usual lazy smile, greeting "Rin-chan. It's nice to see you up. How was you rest?" "Un, It was good. My room's the best and the beds so comfy, I could just sleep in it forever" He was about to reply to the young beauties comment, when "Ne, where are we going? To the main court?" Saito turned back to Echizen and smiled a less than usual lazy smile, "No. You want to get stronger don't you?" Without awaiting the two boys replies, Saito began walking away. However, as soon as he got to Riririn, stopped, and ruffled her hair "You should get back to the main courts. Kurobe-san was going to introduce you to everyone, I think" Excited, Riririn nodded and gave the man a hug (which surprised them both. Saito because he didn't expect it and Riririn because she normally wouldn't hug almost strangers, especially adults)

Blushing at her action, Riririn let go and looked away. "Gomen.." "Iie, it's fine" Was Saito's soft reply. With a nod, Riririn (forgetting about Ryoma) began running up the steps and towards the main court, shouting back "Je ne, Saito-san!" with a small wave.

* * *

Slowly, Riririn walked into the training grounds where the many left middle schoolers were working out. Kurobe had just before informed her of their training regimen and had allowed her to take part if she so wished. That evening, however, Riririn didn't feel like doing anything and just decided to watch.

As she leaned against the fence, no one having yet noticed her, Riririn wondered to herself. "Yukio said I would have to meet everyone but..." She was cut short of her worrisome thoughts as she felt movement in the ground, telling her that someone was approaching. Glancing in said direction, she came face to face with Tsuge. Riririn opened her mouth to speak, but stopped when the man before her did so instead. "You can leave for dinner now. There is no need to wait until they finish"

With a thinking expression plastered all over Riririn's face, she glanced at the still training boys from the corner of her eyes. Each one of them looked tired, which was expected as they were doing their workout for over 4 hours already "Hm.. how long do they have left now?" Grunting, Tsuge took his stopwatch from his pocket and glanced at the number. He sighed "Exactly one hour, 3 minutes" Riririn 'hm'd', a smile making it's way over her lips. "I see... I think I'll go take a walk for a while before eating" Turning around, Riririn began making her way towards an unbeknownst to herself destination. However, she did wave shortly at Tsuge, who merely grunted in return.

Unbeknownst to Riririn, thought, many of the middle schoolers who were in the middle of training, noticed the blue haired beauty and their coach talking. As she walked away from the area, they couldn't help but have new unanswered questions arising in their minds. However, now wasn't the time, they had training to finish and only a little over an hour left. Who knows what their harsh trainer would do if they failed... some shivered visually at the mere thought.

* * *

As the sun began to fall further and further, the dark of the night sky began to rise. The young blue haired beauty found her way into a currently deserted tennis court. Making her way towards the net, Riririn pressed it down with her hand to check at how tight it was made. To her luck, it was already tightly held back and would be perfect for her to practise with her balance and gymnastics since she hadn't practised them in quite a while. In America, Riririn was a part of her schools Gymnastics club; she felt as though whilst doing gymnastics, that she could do anything; It was one of the only sports, beside tennis, that Riririn really felt truly comfortable with.

Tugging off her light grey cardigan and throwing it onto the bleachers, Riririn checked to make sure her braces were strapped correctly, as well as the bandages on her feet, before jumped up onto the net, making it wobble, although only slightly. However, once she got her balance, the net stood perfectly still.

With a smile gracing her lips, Riririn lifted her arms in the air, as elegant as a swan would with it's neck, and took in a deap breath. As that breath left her lips, she threw her arms downwards and gripped softly onto the tip of the netting before swinging her legs over her head and landing in her previous standing position. Feeling pleased with herself, Riririn did some more flips and spins with perfect balance. She felt amazing as she did so and couldn't stop herself from doing more and more every time she thought of stopping.

Not noticing how much time had gone by, Riririn jumped down to the ground and walked over to her cardigan; she put it on, as it had become slightly chilly out. Glancing up, the sky was almost fully darkened. With a deep sigh, Riririn began her way back towards the main building at a running pace. '_Yukio will be angry if I'm back_ too late' She thought to herself in slight worry. However, that went away as the dormitory building came into sight. Kurobe had explained to her the layout of said building. On the ground floor was the room where they could get their food, as well as a lounge room and some of the sleeping rooms. The second floor was full of bedrooms, where each would be shared in small groups and the third floor was her room. The other building was the monitor building and were the three coaches rooms were, as well as the training rooms and a large bath house; which Riririn hoped she would be able to use in the near future as she'd never been in a real japanese bath house before. Last but not least, surrounding the two buildings were all the tennis courts and training grounds.

Finally there, after what seemed like hours of running, Riririn opened the double doors and let out a sigh of relief. "Finally made it" She couldn't help but wonder why it seemed like the building kept moving away from her... perhaps it was due to the lack of sleep. 'Yeh' she thought 'lack of sleep'  
A clearing of someones throat brought her away from her thoughts and she look up hastily to see Kurobe standing before her with his arms crossed over his chest, a fatherly look plastered over his face. He couldn't help but act fatherly towards the girl. When in America, the two had become close to each other in such a way. He actually began to think of her as his own family now. "everyone's already gone to eat, where were you?" He wasn't angry, this Riririn noticed, he was more curious, albeit a bit worried. Her walk couldn't have been that long.. but then again, she did have the ability to get lost anywhere, at any given moment, at any time, and not be able to find her way back even with a detailed set of instructions or personal guide.

Riririn smiled innocently and scratched at the back of her head slightly embarrassed "Gomen. I went for a walk but when I was coming back, for some reason it looked like the building kept getting further and further away from me" "..You were probably going the wrong way" Was Kurobe's deadpan reply. Hanging her head, the blue haired beauty scolded herself "I have to get that horrible talent of mine fixed"

Kurobe chuckled inwardly as the muttering reached his ears 'She thinks of it as a talent?' Thinking about it for a second, he concluded that her uncanny ability to get lost for days on end could possibly be a talent, but a very bad one at that. If it was a sport, then Riririn would definitely win. Shaking away the unnecessary thoughts, for now, Kurobe ruffled Riririn's hair and began pushing her towards the food room with his hand on the small of her back.

Glancing up at her most favourite person in the world, Riririn fidgeted slightly nervous to meet so many people her own age at once, but then she suddenly remembered that slight problem "Um.. Yukio" Said man shifted his gaze and looked at her from the corner of his eyes for a moment before turning back to the front "Hm?" "Well.. my rooms lovely and all, but anyone can go there by just the press of a button. Isn't that bad?" Kurobe smirked, knowing that she would have asked this sooner or later - more prefered sooner than later - and replied with a "It's fine" This confused the young girl, but before she could ask anything further, Kurobe continued "The elevator does not go to the second floor, so no one will have to use it to get to their rooms. Besides, I, personally, will tell them that if they do 'visit' you, then they will have me to see for it. The high schoolers were already informed, now it's just the middles.. but there is a possibility that some might ignore my warnings. Let's just hope that won't happen" Not hearing the last part as Kurobe had said it in a barely audible whisper, Riririn sighed in relief and glanced back straight ahead, now in her own thoughts.

As she did so, Kurobe was also in those of his own. 'She's already 14, but keeps the act of a 10 year old' He sighed inwardly and couldn't help but wonder when she will drop the innocent act. He didn't know much of the girls past (she would always; in some way or another, change the subject when he asked) but if it made her need to act happy, then it couldn't be good. By bringing her to the U-17 training camp, Kurobe was prepared to make Riririn let out her true personality as well as her secrets in the process.

Hearing loud sounds up ahead, that of clattering metals and shouting, the two both snapped out of it and came face to face with see-through double doors. Stopping in her steps, Riririn watched as the middle schoolers celebrated on one side of the large fancy cafeteria, while many of the still awake high schoolers ate on the other, slightly quieter. "It's already started" Kurobe began out of nowhere, startling her "The high and middle schoolers are already trying to keep away from each other" He sighed and placed a hand to the side of his head, feeling a bit tired and annoyed at the same time. Why couldn't things just go the easy way?

Riririn smiled softly and placed a hand on the door handle "Well, I'm hungry and I have some new camp-mates to meet. Are you coming Yukio?" Chuckling softly, Kurobe ruffled his favourite girls hair and placed his hand on the other handle. "Just be ready for the questions.. although you won't have to worry. I'll protect you" Riririn rolled her eyes at his teasing; she had noticed over their short amount of time together that Kurobe was actually like this with only herself. With anyone else, he would have an almost impassive expression and would never joke. It actually made her happy that he was only different with her around... Smiling at the thought, they both pulled the doors open and stepped inside the large cafeteria.

As soon as they did so, almost instantly, everyone turned towards them and all was silent..

With a tilt of her head, Riririn turned to the standing director to her right and asked "Why'd it become quiet? All we did was walk in" Kurobe nodded his head once, also in agreement. However, he knew that Riririn was the center of everyone's attention at the moment. The most likely question that he'll be asked is 'what is a girl doing here?'. Of course, the young boys shouldn't underestimate Riririn just because she was of the opposite, more feminine, gender. No, Riririn was strong and from what he'd seen her do in America, she could beat most, probably all the middle and high schoolers in the room - that was strength wise.. he didn't really know whether she could tennis wise.

Gesturing towards a half empty table, Kurobe lead Riririn to sit down before stating that he would go and get her something to eat. He knew that she hadn't eaten anything since either late last night, or early morning. Riririn, however, silently protested as she did not want to be alone in a room full of males. "It's fine. I'll be right back" Was Kurobe's reply and with that said, he was already walking away. Not giving the blue haired beauty any chance to reply.

The silence in the room had finally stopped and everyone was talking again although most kept an eye on the young girl from the corners of their eyes.

Shifting her gaze from Kurobe's back, Riririn turned to look at the boys who were sitting on the other side of her table. One was the boy she'd seen having a match against the one with the green bandanna earlier on and to his left was a boy that had long brown hair with his eyes closed, a permanent smile plastered over his face. opposite him was another boy with red hair and a small white plaster under his right eye. Looking over the three boys clothes, Riririn noticed that they all wore the blue and white jacket that Echizen wore earlier on. She also noticed that, by glancing around each other the tables, that most of the boys who wore the same clothes sat together.

"Ahn. soka.. that's how it is. Definitely different than America" Hearing her talk, Kikumaru Eiji smiled and moved into the seat right opposite her, a wide grin clear. "Nya. Who're you?" He suddenly blurted out, his curiosity getting the best of him. Before Riririn even had the chance to answer, another boy stood up beside him. It was the boy with the closed eyes and infinite smile; Riririn noted. "Saa.. Eiji, you should introduce yourself first" His voice was velvety, almost like a girls.. "Right. I'm Kikumaru Eiji and he's Fuji Shusuke. Yoroshiku" A wide grin spread across his face as he anticipated the girls reply.

Riririn smiled softly and answered him "Mononoke Riririn. It's nice to meet you. You can call me Rin or Riri. I don't mind" At the other end of the table, Tezuka gave a nod in greeting as he saw the blue haired beauty glance his way. "Nya, that's Tezuka Kunimitsu. Our buchou" Riririn chuckled to herself, but then remembered that she had to ask about Echizen "Ne.. Ryoma's on you team, right?" Hearing the young freshman's name, all three heads snapped towards her in curiosity, but only did Eiji voice his "Ochibi? You know him? how?" 'Ochibi?'A nod was given in reply "Un.. you should ask him when he gets back. That's if he remembers.. which he probably won't" Riririn mumbled out the last part in a whisper, slightly angry and depressed that he wouldn't remember his childhood best friend. "Why can't you tell us?" Eiji insisted, leaning forward in his seat, as excitement bubbled through him. "But what would be the fun in that? Isn't it more amusing for me to have you keep guessing?" At this, Fuji smiled slightly sadistically, his eyes opening to reveal endless cerulean. He couldn't help but agree with her, although he did notice the innocence in her voice, which probably meant that her thoughts weren't centering around the same thing his was... or she was even better at hiding her true self even better than himself. He knew one thing for sure.. Riririn and him would get along swell.

After that, all became silent on the table, except for those on the tables surrounding them. Wondering where Kurobe was with her food, Riririn stood up from her seat and stepped away from the table, her mind set on finding food as her stomach silently agreed. "Nya! where'er you going Rin-chan?" Caught off by the way he called her, Riririn blushed and turned her head to the side, trying her best to hide it. Which, she wasn't doing a very good job at since everyone who was looking at her could see it pretty clearly. "I'm going to see what's taking Yukio so long" Smiling, Riririn let out a slight giggle "It was nice talking to you. Ja ne" Before they even had the chance to answer back, Riririn was already skipping towards the kitchen door on the far end of the room.

* * *

Turing towards Tezuka, Fuji took his former seat and placed his elbows on the table. "Saa.. she's interesting. Don't you think Tezuka?" "..An" "Rin-chan's cute, but I wonder what she meant by 'when Echizen gets back'" Practically shouted Eiji as he moved to sit beside the sadistic Seigaku Tensai. This caught Fuji's attention as he didn't remember hearing that part. 'She knows something...'

Unbeknownst to them, however, other middle schoolers (on the tables closest) had heard their conversation. "So, her names Riririn huh? Suits her well" Oshitari Yuushi stated in a matter-o-fact tone as he adjusted his glasses. Opposite him, sat his buchou - Atobe Keigo - who nodded once in agreement. "Mononoke.. I've heard that name somewhere" He mumbled quietly to himself, which Oshitari heard through his good hearing and made a note in the back of his mind to look it up later on.

* * *

Inside the kitchen, Riririn skipped over to Kurobe - who was leaning against the wall, a thinking look plastered over his face. Noticing Riririn, he turned towards her and smiled. "Sorry it's taking so long" With a shake of her head and a wide smile, she replied "Iie, it's ok. But, can I take it upstairs and eat in my room?" Nodding after a slight thinking moment, Kurobe asked "So, did you make any friends?" "Not really.. but I met some of Ryoma's team, they seemed nice... although bit peculiar" With an inward chuckle, Kurobe ruffled his favourite girls hair before crouching a bit and pulling her into a hug. This surprised Riririn, she would always be the one hugging him, but this time he was doing it. "Listen Riririn. I want you to make the most of you time here, make friends, have fun. But, to do that, I have to know why they're after you, so that I can protect you" Feeling her stiffen in his arms, Kurobe pulled back and looked over her expression.

Her eyes were wide, as if memories were replaying in front of her like a movie, and her skin was pale. Patting her head, the standing director sighed "It's ok. You can tell me when your ready" About to reply, Riririn opened her mouth, but then as she saw the food on a plate on the counter, steaming hot and ready, she raced past Kurobe (startling him in the process) and smelled the great looking food in delight.

Picking up the tray carefully, Riririn turned back around and smiled sadly "I'll see you tomorrow Yukio?" "Sure. I have some work to do.. can you get back on you own?" Nodding, after a bit of reluctant thoughts, Riririn walked towards the kitchen door and pushed it open with her hip before quickly walking through before it closed on her. In his thoughts, Kurobe sighed deeply and placed a hand to the side of her head - which was now becoming a usual habbit. "Tomorrow then.."

As Riririn made her way through the cafeteria, she noticed that there were less men than before and concluded that they already went to their rooms, or perhaps to the lounge. She thought about going to explore the lounge for a moment, but decided against it as she already had a T.V and comfy sofa of her own in her room. Part of the group that had gone, were the three boys that she had just before met. However, most of the middle schoolers were still stuffing their faces with the delicious food.

Appearing in front of the double doors, Riririn wondered how she would open them as they were 'pull' doors instead of 'push'. Deciding to set her tray down to get her hands free, she was about to do so when she felt the movement of someone approaching her through the ground and instead looked in said direction.

A boy with strawberry blond, very curly, hair and red eyes with round glasses appeared. He was tall, shorter than most high schoolers here, but still tall and wore a red and white jersey. Smiling down at Riririn, Kanata Irie - from court 3 - pulled open the glass doors. "Ah.. Arigatou" Bowing her head down in thanks, Riririn made her way through the door, but felt through the movement in the ground that the boy was following after her. Ignoring him, and thinking that he was just going somewhere else, Riririn continued on until she came up to the only elevator in the whole camp. She was, once again, about to try to place her tray of food down, but stopped when someone already pressed the button. Glancing at the boy, who had indeed followed after her, Riririn furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. This, Irie found quite cute and his interest in her only grew more.

As soon as Kurobe had told them that a girl was going to be living here, he wondered if she had done something exceptional to get in. Kurobe hadn't told them why, or how she came to be here, stating that it was no ones business other than his and the others coaches own. However, he had strictly told them that if anyone were to use the elevator without her, or his permission, then they would have him to see to.

When speaking to Kazuya and Oni, the latter had told him that they'd already met the girl. She surely was an interesting one to get Oni to tell her his name flat out like that. So, Irie decided to talk to the young blue haired beauty when he got the chance. Sitting in the cafeteria, Irie noticed that Riririn had had a hard time with the doors, so he decided that it was the perfect opportunity.

"Ano.." Her sweet, velvety, voice brought him out from his thoughts and he glanced down at her with a soft smile, although it held a hidden meaning. "Kanata Irie, Yoroshiku" "Ah, Domo-" The elevator doors slid open and a '**ding**' was heard. Sighing in relief, that she wouldn't have to wait in an awkward silence with the high schooler, Riririn stepped inside the elevator and awaited the moment the doors would shut. However, she noticed a problem. Groaning that she'd have to place her tray on the elevator ground - as it might spill - to press the button for the third floor. Noticing her distress, Irie stepped inside and pressed the button. This startled Riririn and she began to worry that the boy would see her room.

"Mononoke Riririn" After a short moment of silence in the elevator, Riririn realised that she hadn't yet told Irie her name. Said boy turned to her and smiled, a now infamous, to her, smile, to which she returned warily. However, that smile soon turned into a frown as she remembered that he was almost at the top floor near her room. "Ano.. your not supposed to come up to the top floor. Hasn't Yukio told you yet?" _'Yukio? she calls the director by his first name?'_ "Hm.. he has. But I've been wondering for a while what the third floor looked like. Can't I have a quick look? Ne, Rin-chan?" Riririn was a bit (a lot) worried. Nevertheless, she nodded her head once, however reluctant it was, (as she was brought up to be polite in all types of situations) receaving a wider smile in return. 'He doesn't seem like a bad type.. I'll keep extra watch, just in case...'

A 'ding' was heard and the elevator doors slid open. Riririn was the first to step inside the room and she quickly went towards her desk to placed the tray of food down. Silently, she hoped that it hadn't turned cold, wouldn't turn cold, as she wouldn't be able to eat until Irie left. If she did begin to eat then that would be classed as being rude, as she had company who didn't have food of his own.

Said boy was walking around the room, nodding his head every so often at what he saw - meaning, he liked it. "It's very impressive" He stopped at the center of the room and placed a hand on the grand black, finely polished, piano. "Do you play?" "..Yeh" Riririn came up to the older boys side, gliding a hand of her own across the large instrument. "I notice there's other instruments as well. You play them all?" His reply was a simple nod, as Riririn was too busy staring down at the black and white piano keys, as if entranced by them.

Snapping out of it, the blue haired beauty walked over to the T.V and pressed the 'on' button, before taking the remote and practically lunging herself down onto the corner sofa. For Irie, he found this amusing and chuckled from behind his hand before joining her as well, perhaps a little close to Riririn's liking, however.

"Ano... you said you'd just have a quick look..." Riririn was feeling a bit awkward and there was uncertainty building from the pit of her stomach. There was a male in her room, who she barely knew (didn't know at all, in fact) and he was sitting right beside her, even though he said he'd only have a quick look. Turning away from the T.V, Irie smiled "Are you uncomfortable with me here?" "Yes" Was her deadpan reply. 'As if he didn't know that already' she thought to herself unimpressed, mentally sighing in frustration. The best thing to do for her, at the moment, would be to have a nice, long bath, change into her pj's and play the saxophone before going to sleep. Of course, with Irie there, Riririn couldn't do that and she really wanted to. So, turning the T.V. back off, Riririn threw the remote to the other side of the sofa and stood up. "You should go now. I want some privacy"

Still smiling, Irie stood up as well and began making his way back to the elevator. The room was magnificent, surely, and he really wanted to come up here some time to relax. Just as he pressed the button to the elevator, Irie turned to glance at Riririn from over his shoulder "Can I come up here again? it seems like a nice place to relax" Without even giving Riririn a chance to reply, he continued "You wouldn't mind If I brought Kazuya and Oni, would you?" As soon as the name Oni came out from his lips, Riririn felt herself smile and nod her head. She had found him to be an interesting subject, as well as Kazuya, however Oni was more important. "Sure, bring them. Ja ne, Irie-san" Riririn waved as the strawberry blond-haired 3rd year stepped inside the enclosed space, before disappearing from her sights.

* * *

Inside the elevator, Irie grinned to himself. He didn't think that she'd be that interested in his two friends. 'It was a good idea to bring them up then.. I just hope Kurobe won't be angry at me for this' Stepping out, Irie began making his way towards his dorm room. However, on the way there, he came across just the two he needed to talk to.

Oni grunted in greeting "Kurobe wouldn't like it if he knew where you just came down from" his stare was hard and all to serious for Irie, who merely smiled in return, ignoring the cold stare of his other companion - Kazuya. "I was just lending Rin-chan a hand. Her room's pretty amazing. I asked to visit again, to relax, and when she heard your names, she agreed. So, if I go, you have to go. You don't mind, right?" The shorter high schooler tilted his head with an innocent closed eye smile. The other two knew that they wouldn't be able to stop him, so they agreed. With that said and done, Irie turned towards his room to get a good nights rest.

Unbeknownst to him, though, an insanely tall man had seen the whole incident and began his way towards the stand-in director with a lazy smile plastered over his face (he still had that report to write and it won't get done itself). '_Oh how things have become interesting..._'


	5. Chapter 4 - Fun Game of Tennis

Wearing mid-thigh white shorts, a red tank top, a red and white jersey and bandages over her feet, Riririn brushed through her silky blue hair before tieing it up in a high pony-tail and letting her bangs frame her heart-shaped face. Picking up her red and black tennis beg, Riririn practically launched herself into the elevator.

It had only been yesterday that she'd arrived, and yesterday night she'd made up her mind; she would play a game of 'fun' tennis with someone. She didn't care only thing that mattered was that she'd have a great time. Riririn was sure that Kurobe would let her do as she pleased, since her warm up style would be a great work out for whoever she played against.

Deciding to skip lunch, as she'd woken up a little past noon due to how tired she was, Riririn kept on her path towards the main tennis courts; said courts were mostly used for training matches and Riririn was sure to find a good sparring partner. She chuckled at the thought of messing with her partners mind, excitement building up in the pit of her stomach.

As she came up to the main courts, Riririn glanced over the boys currently against each other in matches. Most, or probably all, were high schoolers.

Furrowing her eyebrows, Riririn came to the conclusion that the middle schoolers were either eating their lunch at this point in time, resting, or training elsewhere on their six-hour long workout. She decided that it was most probably the latter of the three as, if she were in their positions, she wouldn't be wasting her time with such trival things as eating and resting.

Hearing a shout coming out in a familiar voice, Riririn shifted her gaze towards Tsuge as said man began ordering the high schoolers, who were now in the middle of their harsh training, around. A grin spread across the blue haired beauties face as she skipped her way over towards him.

Ever since she met Tsuge, which was only yesterday, she found him an interesting subject. Just like Oni, she wondering if Tsuge was also hiding a kinder self. In front of her, he would always act as civil and nice as possible (which wasn't really that nice) but Riririn came to the conclusion that Kurobe had forced him to not act like himself for a change; he'd do that to everyone she met, though she told him that she could make people like her on her own accord. When it came to Riririn, Kurobe would always act over the top. The blue haired beauty shook her head at the mere thought of the things her favourite person in the world has already done; even though they only met a single month ago.

But those stories were for another time...

As Riririn began approaching him, Tsuge concluded - from the corner of his eyes - that she was going to be an annoyance. The stand in director -Kurobe- had strictly ordered him to be nice to his "little girl" but Tsuge really didn't want the high schoolers, anyone in fact, to see him doing so. It went against his well-built character. A sigh escaped his lips as he noticed the wide grin plastered over the young girls pretty face. 'she wants something' that simple sentence was going over and over through his mind; kind of like a warning sign telling him it would be in his best interest to get away.. now! However, before he even had the chance to move a single muscle, Riririn was already standing on the heels of her feet before him, a somewhat evil? smile/grin plastered all over her pretty little face.

"Ne, Tsuge-san. Could I play a match with someone?" He knew it. She wanted something and it just had to be pretty impossible for him to sort out. The pouty face she made was becoming ever so annoying, but for some reason he couldn't tell her to go away. Either it was of the, slight, fear of the stand in director or that he just came to (somehow) like the blue haired girl... he didn't know.

A deep sigh escaping his lips, Tsuge placed a hand to the side of his head and scratched in frustration.

"Did Kurobe give you permission?"

"Uhuh!" He sneaked a glance at the camera and glared heatedly.

"*sigh* fine" Tsuge continued before Riririn had the chance to go celebrate. "But" there was always a 'but' "Only one and then you go and do the training workout along with the other middle schoolers. Got it?" With an enthusiastic nod in return, he blew the whistle causing all the current tennis matches to stop.

Many of the boys gave questionable glances towards their trainer, but didn't bother to voice their thoughts as they knew how ugly things could become. However. that didn't mean that they wouldn't stop those glances, nor the looks they were sending towards the blue haired beauty standing beside the ever stoic man.

Tsuge searched through the many boys in search of a partner that Riririn could play. Although, before he could even tell who would do so, Riririn tugged on his top and whispered in an excited voice "Pick someone who would give me a challenge. Ne?" With a subtle roll of his eyes, Tsuge called out to a tough looking high schooler with long black hair and lovely icy blue eyes that always gave the boy such a cold look. "Lucis! get over here!"

Said boy stood up from his spot on the bleachers as he was awaiting his match and slowly, to both Riririns and Tsuges dismay, made his way over to them.

As soon as he was close enough, Riririn smiled shyly and gave a quick bow. "Mononoke Riririn. It would be great if you would to play a match with me"

Riririn decided that if she made her voice cuter and made sure that she acted cuter, then the boy before her would definitely have a match with her. However, the boy gave nothing away as he stared into her beautiful heterochromatic eyes.

"Lucis. Your excused from your match and will instead face off against-"

"Tsuge-san!" Riririn whined as she interrupted the now fed up man "its not a real match. I just want to have some fun. Anyway, will you be my opponent Lucis-san?"

Said boy, who had been strangely quiet up until now, waited a few seconds before giving his answer. He was a member of the 6th court, almost towards the top. He didn't mind getting put of his usual practise match, however how could he face off against such a young, not to mention fragile, looking girl without feeling guilty for winning against her.

As if hearing his thought, said girl gave a cold look of her own and spoke in an even colder tone "If you are thinking about what I think your thinking about... don't. You should never judge a book by its cover. That's why you should never judge me because of my gender or looks" Even Tsuge had to shiver slightly at that, although he'd never admit it. She was quite scary when she wasn't acting cute. As is on cue, the sweet smile came back and Riririn bounced her way onto an empty court, shouting back

"Coming?"

* * *

As the two stood opposite each other on the court, Riririn with the bandages on her feet tightened and a black and blue racket in hand, the other matched continued on their own. Even though they wanted very much so to watch the girl battle against Lucis, Tsuge had strictly ordered them to get back to whatever it was they were doing or he'd double their training schedule. However, that wouldn't stop them from looking now and then.

Back to Riririn, the two began their match with the boys serve.

Calming herself and wriggling her toes, Riririn felt the path of the ball through the, barely, existant vibrations in the ground and was right where the yellow tennis sphere would land before anyone had a chance to blink.

Hitting it back, Riririn smiled as the familiar feeling rushed throughout her being. She loved the feel she got when she played against strong players and she could tell that this boy was almost there, though there was still lots of room to grow.

As the match continued, Tsuge couldn't understand what was happening. Not once had Lucis scored a point, nor did Riririn for the matter. In fact, it seemed as though Riririn was controlling her opponents moves. While she hit back every strong shot the black-haired boy made, she only made easy shots herself that were easy to counter.

Tsuge began to wonder if this was all on purpose.

If Riririn was actually doing this to have fun. Though, it seemed as though this kind of match was perfect for her opponent: Lucis - who's stamina was one of his worst traits. He noticed that the boy, after 10 minutes of running back and forth along the court, was sweating promptly as well as breathing in short pants. On the other hand, Riririn was not sweating at all, even in the heat of the sun, nor was she breathing with any sort of difficulty. A smile was continuously plastered over her pretty little face and she seemed to be enjoying herself.

Perhaps Kurobe was correct in saying that she was strong. This would be a great way to train the boys. With a new-found idea in mind that he planned to inform the director of later, although he had a feeling Kurobe wouldn't like it, Tsuge continued with reviewing the other high schoolers matches.

* * *

*pant pant pant*

That wad the only sound coming from Riririn's opponent as she scored the first and last point. She had decided that she would end the match as they had gone on non-stop for around half an hour now and the poor boy, who was her opponent, looked awfully tired.

It had been a while since she had been warmed up in such a way and Riririn couldn't help but grin as she jumped over the net toward Lucis for a handshake.

Said boy took a large gulp of water from his water bottle and stared at the open hand of the blue haired beauty. As of contemplating whether or not to shake it. Rolling her eyes, Riririn made her move and grabbed a hold of hos hand, placing her much smaller, softer in it.

"You were a fun opponent, but some friendly advice. You need to work more on your stamina and grip strength. When you hit the ball, a looser grip is better for the flick of your wrist; it causes less strain. Think about that when your training. Bye!" the poor boy didn't even have a chance to reply as Riririn was already down the far end of the courts. Thinking about it, he really was straining his hand in his matches.

For the first time that day, a smile, albeit small, graced Lucis's attractive features.

* * *

"That was fun! I can't wait to play again. Maybe I should ask one of the middle schoolers for a friendly game later on after the workout. Oh! but Yukio doesn't like it when someone plays outside of practise matches. Oh well, he won't care if its-Oof!"

Riririn was so in her thoughts and excited babbling that she didn't notice the group ahead of her and ended up knocking into one of them, both falling backwards towards the ground. The blue haired girl winced and rubbed her backside as she stood up, not all that aware of the looks she was getting.

"Hey! Watch were your going you little **b*tch!**"


	6. Chapter 5 - Don't Mess With the Innocent

Chapter 6

Recap

"That was fun! I can't wait to play again. Maybe I should ask one of the middle schoolers for a friendly game later on after the workout. Oh! but Yukio doesn't like it when someone plays outside of practise matches. Oh well, he won't care if its- Oof!" Riririn was so in her thoughts, and excited babbling, that she didn't notice the group ahead of her and ended up knocking into one of them, both falling backwards towards the ground. Riririn winced and rubbed her backside as she stood up, not all that aware of the looks she was getting.

"Hey! Watch were your going you little **b*tch**!"

* * *

Riririn was just about to say she was sorry when those words cane out of the guy that she knocked into's mouth. Now, Riririn was a sweet girl who would try anything and everything to make anybody happy. literally. However, when someone speaks to her like... this guy for an example, well... let's just say she's not a happy girl. **B*tch** is one of the words she hates worst, for a couple of reasons and for a random guy to call her that when she only bumped into him, herself falling to the ground and hurting he backside, she would make sure he was the one to apologise.

Getting up, rubbing off imaginary dust in the process, Riririn turned her eyes towards the culprit of the situation: A shaggy brown-haired boy with hazel eyes, quite attractive if anything '_too bad its ruined with his bad mouth'_

Said high schooler stated at the younger girl before looking at her with a sarcastic look. Now, he knew that the young blue haired beauty before him was Kurobe's guest, as well as that said man had specifically told them not to even harm a hair on her head. But that didn't mean they couldn't be angry with her.

Wouldn't you be pissed off if a little girl got special rights to come into such a high facilitated camp while you had to work your asses off? See what I mean? Anyway, back to the story...

Riririn looked up at the guy before her as he was giving her a one over, and narrowed her eyes. A cold aura surrounded the group and shivered went down the guys backs. With a sweet, yet cold, look and a straight face, Riririn spoke "Would you like to repeat that for me? it seems my hearings not as good as it normally is because I'm sure you just called me a **b*tch**.." The guy who knocked into her scoffed and grabbed Riririn by the collar of her striped tank top, ripping it in the process because of his hard grip, and hissed through his teeth.

"Listen here **b*tch**! Just cause you've got the directors favour doesn't mean you can just waltz around the place and go annoying everyone in your path. Us high schoolers rule this place, so you better watch what you're doing or "something" just might end up happening to you..." Now that Kaname (the guys name) took a closer look, he noticed that the girl before him was a true beauty (he thought she was pretty before, but now...) and would be even more so in just a few years.

A smirk made its way over his features and Riririn sighed inwardly, knowing exactly what he was going to do to annoy her next.

Pulling her closer, so much that his breath fanned over her in hot waves, Kaname licked his lips and spoke in almost inaudible whispers. "Well, your quite a spectacle up close... how about we forget this ever happened and go somewhere else to get to know each other?" That was all it took for something inside Riririn to snap and as soon as Kaname's lips brushed against those of her own, her leg sweeper up in a swift movement, crashing so hard into the rude boys treasures that the other high schoolers swore they could hear a crack.

"Aargh!"

_'Ohh! that's gotta hurt!'_

Even Riririn, the one who caused the poor guy the damage, flinched away. '_Maybe I hit too hard? ... Naa, he deserved it'_

With her most sweet and innocent smile, Riririn watched as Kaname crumpled to the floor, holding onto his now almost broken treasures in pain. The blue haired beauty bent over him, hands on hips and giggled "Take this as a reminder. Don't ever try anything like that with me again... or maybe, next time you might find yourself unable to have children" Turning to the other boys, who had watched with gaping mouths from the beginning, Riririn bowed her head in goodbye before running off.

It was because of things like this that Riririn loved having Kurobe around her, as well as since she loved him like a father. In America, whenever random guys would come up to her, they would all be scared off straight away at the sight of her Yukio's death glare. She thought that since Kurobe had mentioned that they would have him to deal with if they did stuff like this, none of the guys would bother her... however, it seems like that only caused things to get worse.

Take the Irie incident for example. The guy invaded her home and practically bribed her to let him 'visit' again.

She sighed in annoyance as she continued her way towards her destination: the middle schooler training area. _'I wonder if anything interesting will happen...'_

* * *

"The hell!?"

Riririn shouted out rather loudly ad she plopped herself on the ground and crossed her arms over her cheat in frustration, puffing her cheeks out childishly. "Why is it that the one talent I DON'T have and WANT is the ability to not get lost? No wonder Kurobe worries about me so much. I'm surprised I didn't get on the wrong plane and find myself in a completely different country. Maybe I should beg him to place a tracking device on me that has an emergency button so someone can come fetch me when I get too far away... god!" Although Riririn wasn't yet finished with her rant, she stopped as she noticed the person standing parallel to her across the path.

Raising an eyebrow, she smiled sweetly and asked "Yes?"

To he honest, the guy didn't know what to do. Here he was, minding his own business when suddenly he walks past the mysterious blue haired beauty, only to find her in a crazed rant. Should he leave without looking her in the eyes and pretend he saw nothing, or should he help... hmm which to choose.

Snapping out of hos own thought, he noticed Riririn speaking "-is?" not only that, he found that she was closer than originally was. Up close, she stared him in the eye, sighing inwardly as a confused look graced his features. Smiling a friendly smile, Riririn bowed politely and asked again: "Ah! Gomen. I'm Riririn Mononoke, yoroshiku. I was wondering if you knew where the middle schoolers were training... do you think you could take me?" With an innocent smile like that, there was no way he could say no. And if Tsuge asked why he was late, he'd just tell him that he had to lead Riririn somewhere - that would surely make the tough physical trainer let him get away with it...

Nodding, he smiled an attractive smile in return and began walking south, speaking over his shoulder "Kentaro Yakushi, follow me" Riririn let out the breath she was holding in relief of not having to stay lost and began to follow the blonde haired, green-eyed boy, silently thanking him over and over in return.

It was silent as the two walked together, Riririn having to walk faster as Kentaro would take large strides and she was shorter altogether.

The silence was broken, however, as Kentaro stopped suddenly and pointed a finger to the fields before him. "They should be just over there. If not, then they're in the gym. Don't get lost again ok?"

And with that said he turned around and left before Riririn even got the chance to thank him. She made a mental note to find out from Kurobe later on about who he was so that she could make it up to him somehow.

As Riririn made her way across the field, she spotted just the group of people she was looking for. Some of the middle schoolers were in the middle of running around the track x many times. Taking off her jacket Riririn threw it off to the side and jogged her way to the starting line to begin a workout of her own.

Riririn counted to three in her head and soon shot off at a jogging pace, which would later turn into a full-out sprint.

As quick as she left the starting line, Riririn found herself catching up to the group of middle schoolers who looked rather tired out, probably from already having run for god knows how long. The blue-haired girl had to suppress a laugh as a certain boy tumbled and almost took the whole group with him like a stack of dominos. Luckily for them though, the boy missed by a couple of inches but still managed to fall on his face. At this point Riririn couldn't hold herself any further and let loose a bell-like sound that fluttered Its way across the area of the field.

Said boy groaned into the ground in both annoyance and slight pain when he hears footsteps signalling that someone was approaching. Worried that the others had already done another lap without him, he jumped up. Just as he was about to start running again, a girl's voice made him stop mid-thought/step.

"Ne, daijoubu desuka?" The boy turned his face to the right and came nose to nose with a tip-toeing Riririn that had a concerned expressing covering her face. He let out a quiet yelp and fell backwards from the close proximity. 'The hell?' he thought to himself as he stumbled to stand up for the second time.

That's when the boy realised that the blue haired beauty had asked him a question. So, he put on a brave face and answered.

"Of course I'm alright, nothing but a fall to the face"

"hmm... that's good then, but there's something you should know" As the boy gave Riririn a questioning glance, said girl merely smiled with her eyes closed and pointed behind him. He turned to look over his shoulder, but soon regretted his decision. The rest of the other middle schoolers were coming towards them at an alarming rate, as if a stampeding herd of cows... but on steroids.

Seeing the horrified look the boy wore, Riririn decided to give him a starting hand. She took a hold of his arm and began running across the track, the boy stumbling over his legs every now and the as he couldn't keep up.

"Hey! what are you-" He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as Riririn had so rudely interrupted. "Mononoke Riririn, Yoroshiku! What's your name?"

Startled by the girls question as well as the fact that this was the mysterious girl that got a lot of them interested, he didn't answer for a few seconds. Well, untill his feet stumbled out from under him again and he fell to the ground on top of Riririn, whom just so happened to try to catch him.

"Kirihara Akaya"

Was all he managed to say before the blue haired beauty threw him off of her.

Getting up, Riririn smiled down at the still splattered across the ground boy and shook her head. "Well Kirihara-kun, I'm going to go finish my training somewhere else. Let's talk if we see each other again sometime Ne?" And with that said, she was off, gone away at the speed of light... ok that's over exaggerating it a bit.

But, she was fast.

Standing up himself, Akaya scratched at the back of his head in confusion and fought the small blush down that had most probably covered his face when he fell on top of the beauty.

'_She was...'_

Hearing more footsteps, Akayas thoughts were interrupted. He turned around to see his captain - yukimura, Fuji, and some others who were in his running group.

"You were right Fuji, she is interesting"


End file.
